New Build From Scratch - Thoughts?

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bonsai

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jun 27, 2008
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Looking at a new build for recording/composition and the upcoming round of games (Skyrim, BF3, etc). I prefer quality parts, i.e. ASUS, Corsair, Lian-Li, etc. I will also be upgrading to a 1920x1200 monitor soon.

Here's what I'm looking at right now, looking to buy within a week or so. I usually do a big upgrade every 2 to 3 years. I'm still running a e8400 and a 4850 (yikes!). Any thoughts on parts that have better price to performance ratio, keeping in mind quality and reliability?

Thanks!

Part list permalink / Part price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($310.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus P8P67 (REV 3.1) ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($157.86 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Dominator 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($97.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Intel 320 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($219.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 2GB Video Card ($264.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Lian-Li PC-B10 ATX Mid Tower Case ($219.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($153.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1425.79
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
 
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bonsai said:
Looking at a new build for recording/composition and the upcoming round of games (Skyrim, BF3, etc). I prefer quality parts, i.e. ASUS, Corsair, Lian-Li, etc. I will also be upgrading to a 1920x1200 monitor soon.

Here's what I'm looking at right now, looking to buy within a week or so. I usually do a big upgrade every 2 to 3 years. I'm still running a e8400 and a 4850 (yikes!). Any thoughts on parts that have better price to performance ratio, keeping in mind quality and reliability?

Thanks!

Part list permalink / Part price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($310.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus P8P67 (REV 3.1) ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($157.86 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Dominator 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($97.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Intel 320 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($219.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 2GB Video Card ($264.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Lian-Li PC-B10 ATX Mid Tower Case ($219.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($153.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1425.79
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
Click to expand...

Yes, I agree with xBanzai89. Answer the questions from the sticky.

Although right off the bat there are several parts that are extremely poor values for the money:

1) The RAM. It costs almost twice as much as an 8GB kit of DDR3-1333 RAM that we normally recomend. Plus, the performance improvement of DDR3-1600 RAM over DDR3-1333 RAM is far less than is justified by such an extreme price premium.

2) The graphics card. There is a reason why that Sapphire card is so cheap initially - but shipping charges make it almost as expensive as the brands of cards based on the exact same GPU with the exact same amount of RAM that come from brands that offer far better warranties and/or customer support quality than Sapphire. For AMD GPU-based cards we generally recommend Asus and XFX over Sapphire.

3) That Asus P8P67 is not my first choice for a P67 motherboard, especially since Rev. "3.0" of that particular line has had more reliability issues than most other P67 motherboards. Rev. 3.1 has not been on the market long enough to judge reliability; however, the only significant change from Rev. 3.0 is the dual USB 3.0 controllers (the 3.1 uses dual ASMedia controllers versus the NEC/Renesas controllers on the 3.0). If you must get a P67 board, go with MSI instead.

4) The Intel 320 series SSD is only SATA 3.0 Gbps (a/k/a SATA II) compliant. So, that drive will not take anywhere close to full advantage of the P67's native SATA 6.0 Gbps support. Plus, it requires a firmware update to fix the reliability issues of that particular line of SSDs. The Crucial m4 and Intel's own 510 series SSDs are better choices even if they are more expensive.
 
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Agree with what the others have said, although I am a fan of that Toxic card and wouldn't hesitate to get it

Ram note: that's 1.65v Ram, you don't want that for the Sandy Bridge Builds .. Although it does have a 1.5volt profile meaning you will have to run it at 1066 speed
If sticking with Corsair, go with Corsair Vengeance Ram, it's 1.5v or less (white colored heat spreaders are 1.35v), it's cheaper, and it's 1600 speed at 1.5v (or 1.35v), the 1333 XMS3 is also 1.5v (but double check the part number before ya buy as there is also 1.65v versions out there).
The 1066 vs 1333 vs 1600 makes very very little difference with the new cpu's.

PSU Options
Corsair HX850 - it's fully modular and on sale for less then the one you linked, the TX has a TON of wires, the TX750m and TX850m say they are modular, but it's only partial and still has a bunch of wires, also the HX850 has a 7 year warranty compared to 5 on the others

The MSI P67A-G43 (or G45 if you need firewire) is a great board and inexpensive and has the heatsinks on the VRMs, also gives you crossfire/sli options later at the pcie slots are 8x/8x and not 16x/4x (with one card they are all 16x, unless it's one of the high end boards where you have to see what works when you use what features on it)

Encoding?
If you are encoding go with the Z68 series for virtu support and the 2600k cpu

You can save yourself the ~$100 and get the 2500k if this build is just for gaming
 
Pulled the trigger on the Sapphire Toxic, couldn't pass up the 2 free games and free shipping.

Here's what I'm looking at now:

Part list permalink / Part price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($214.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI P67A-G45 (B3) ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($112.86 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($51.98 @ Amazon)
Hard Drive: Intel 510 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($236.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Lian-Li PC-B10 ATX Mid Tower Case ($219.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($153.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $990.79
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)

And the Sapphire 7950 at $270 (after rebate)

Total: $1261 (after rebates)

Could also go with: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010&Tpk=corsair hx750 instead of AX750 and save $24 after rebate.
 
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Bonsai answer these please:

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
6) Will you be overclocking?
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
 
xBanzai89 said:
Bonsai answer these please:

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Already answered
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1000-$1500
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
U.S.
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc.
Already answered
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Already answered
6) Will you be overclocking?
Probably.
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
Already answered
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Already answered
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
Nothing specific, ability to overclock.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes
Click to expand...

If you insist.
 
bonsai said:
If you insist.
Click to expand...

The point of the questions is to have a nice lay out so people trying to help you can easily do so instead of fishing around to find that info. That sticky is there for a reason. Thats all I have to say.
 
Since you're planning on overclocking, slight issue here: The problem with that setup is the RAM. Its tall heatsinks will probably interfere with the installation of many 3rd party HSF. With that RAM, you either A) have to use a really tall and more than likely expensive HSF or B) a water cooling setup. Again probably pricey as well.
 
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